The attitude of an aircraft, defined as pitch, roll and yaw, is crucial to safe operation.
Visual attitude indicating instruments are standard equipment in all aircraft. These consist of airspeed, altimeter, slip indicator, bank indicator, pitch indicator and others. In addition, certified aircraft require an audible stall warning. Also, some of the more complex aircraft include a stick shaker or stick pusher. This type of device sends attitude feedback to the pilot by employing a force on the control stick or yoke when the aircraft approaches a stall of the wing.
A drawback to visual instruments is that the pilot must divert his attention from outside the aircraft to the instruments. This is particularly critical when the aircraft is close to landing. The pilot's attention needs to be focused on the position of the runway relative to the aircraft. At the same time the pilot needs to monitor the aircraft attitude and airspeed by looking at the instruments. Many aircraft accidents are due to loss of control (LOC), when the pilot is making the final turn to landing. The audible stall indicator often is not recognized. This can be due to engine noise, turbulence, headphones, and other distractions. Stick shakers have been shown to be effective but generally are not seen on light aircraft because of the sophistication and cost.
My tactile feedback aircraft control grip resolves the aforementioned drawbacks to the visual and audio signals currently provided to the pilot for the purpose of maintaining safe aircraft attitude. It is also an improvement over the stick shaker and stick pusher as it signals the aircraft attitude to the pilot by actuators within the control grip that press on the pilot's fingertips.
It is known that the human fingertip has a higher concentration of nerve endings than most areas of the human body. Signals indicating aircraft attitude sent to each fingertip via an actuator are quickly learned and are much less subject to being overlooked.
Tactile feedback to the pilot is known in some variations. For example, Vavra, U.S. Pat. No. 4,484,191 A discloses a tactile feedback device that translates a signal from the slip indicator instrument and is sent to two vibrating devices located in the pilot's seat. The intention of these vibrators is to signal the pilot's legs. The leg receiving the signal is the one that should depress the rudder pedal. Also disclosed are variations on the stick pusher/shaker (Abel U.S. Pat. No. 7,658,349 B2); (Repperger U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,594 A); control wheel with haptic feedback (Springer U.S. Pat. No. 8,364,342 B2).
Also disclosed is a thumb-only haptic feedback device (Holcombe U.S. Pat. No. 2,657,476) and a thumb and index finger only haptic feedback device (Kenyon U.S. Pat. No. 2,754,505 A).
My device is an improvement as it provides haptic feedback of “angle of attack” and slip/skid attitude as the primary attitude information to be conveyed to the pilot. Another improvement over the previous art is that my invention adds haptic feedback to multiple fingers and thumb, multiple positions on finger(s) and thumb, and the option to transmit haptic signals to various positions on the palm and hand. Another improvement is haptic feedback is proven to be more effective with pulses rather than the signal provided by a single extension of the moveable feeler element.
Various drawbacks of the sited prior art are also eliminated by the use of modern microprocessor technology.
My invention does not reside in any single one of the identified features individually, but rather in the synergistic combination of all of its structures, which give rise to the functions necessarily flowing therefrom as hereinafter specified and claimed.